Nonviolent Protestors of Sindh Education Lower Staff were callously beaten by Karachi Police

Demand for rights meet with harsh treatment

According to the reports of different media and individual sources on facebook, the protest of Sindh Education Lower Staff met with a harsh and violent reaction of Karachi police. Police applied baton charge and used tear gas to prevent the nonviolent protestors of Low Paid Contract Employees of Provincial Education Department, from marching towards the Parliament and the Chief Minister House. Eye witnesses, passers-by and media reports say protestors were acting nonviolently and demanding their employment rights from the appropriate authorities which is legal, legitimate and moral. Police applied baton charge and tear gas in which two protestors were injured while more than 12 were arrested. Those who were arrested were harassed and kept at Artillery police station, Karachi. Protest call was given by All Sindh Education Department Lower Staff Association which was attended by low paid contract staff from different parts of the province.

by Jang_News-Thanks Jang News

Media also reported that after massive protest from the lower staff the Sindh Minister for Education and Literacy Department Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq assured them for regularization of their jobs, but the government so far has not regularized the employees. According to the Lower Staff Association representatives, the government has also stopped salaries of contract basis employees working in Karachi, Hyderabad and other parts of the Sindh. The representative of the Lower Staff Association told media that both Provincial Minister and Secretary of Education promised to hold meeting with them on their issues but unfortunately it never happened. Further added that Sindh Minister for Education and Literacy Department Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq had assured them for regularization of their jobs, but the government so far has not regularized the employees.

This protest of Lower Staff Association reveals the sorry state of affairs in the southern province of province where people are beaten and tortured if they demand their rights guaranteed by both the Constitution of Pakistan and the international human rights law. This news also shows that how much people trust on the promises made by the Government and their officials. This erosion of people’s trust has not happened in one day. It is the result of constant breach of their trust on the government and their representatives. As reports say that the Sindh Minister and Secretary for Education were supposed to hold meetings with the protestors but unfortunately that promise was not honored by them.

Pakistan which has ratified both the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) has obligation to restrain from such treatment to the people who demand their rights which are legal.

Pakistan and Sindh Government authorities should not prevent people from exercising their rights peacefully and nonviolently. If people were stopped from protests and not allowed to let their frustration by nonviolent means like march and rallies. They may resort to violent means which may create more problems for the government.

Being a state party to a Key Convention of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Signatory to two other two conventions, Pakistan and Sindh government must ensure that human rights of people are respected, protected and realized in Pakistan in line with international standards where Pakistan Government has made pledges and commitments with international community. The inhumane way police is treating protestors shows how much these obligations and promises of Pakistani government with the international community are being honored on the ground. RightsNOW Pakistan urges the Pakistan and Sindh Government to comply with its obligation to both national and international law and regularize the employees and issue them their withheld salaires.

Higher Authorities of Sindh Police should take an immediate notice of such cruel behavior of their officials towards the nonviolent protesters and hold accountable to those who were involved in the act. evident in the picture. Civil Servant Act of Pakistan which regulate the appointment and other terms of services of police and other department should comply with the meaning of the name of the Act ‘servant’ and restraint themselves from issuing orders to their colleagues to treat protesters harshly and inhumanely and ensure that their sub-ordinate treat masses as the real civil servants do in other civilized countries.

Ministers, Chief Ministers and other highest Government officials must not forget that it is their duty and obligation to meet people, listen their pains and problems, and take immediate and appropriate measures for their redressal. They are on these positions just because of these people. Once people decided to ACT; such violent measures  of authorities will fail  prevent people to throw them away from power. Egypt, Tunisia and other countries are examples and authorities must learn lessons from them.

RightsNOW Pakistan appreciate the role of Marvi Memon, a journalist and member National Assembly for standing the rights of education employees and inter-positioning between police and protestors to create space for them so they could continue their protest and save themselves from violence of police.

 

You Have the Power

By John Abbe

I met Ali Palh a couple of years ago, when he was in the Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sri Lanka and participated in a workshop I was offering there on Nonviolent Communication. We saw each other again just recently when I was visiting family in my home town of Boston, Massachusetts in the USA.

John Abbe

 

I had some awareness of the situation in Pakistan, but Ali shared more including the serious  malnutrition of children in Sindh province. He told me about this website, and asked if I would write something for you. I firmly believe in the power each of us has to make a difference, even in the most difficult circumstances,  as Pakistan and Sindh are facing and so in mind I wrote this.

You can forget this, but you cannot prevent it from being true. Other people (and animals, plants, the planets and stars, etc.) all have power as well, but in regard to the way you experience the world, and your ability to do things in it, you have ultimate power.We know this is true because there are people who model this for us, despite being in the most horrible circumstances. When Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner in South Africa for organizing against apartheid he did not despair. Until he realized he might never again have the chance to express his love to the people who mattered to him, and he lost awareness of his power. When he regained it, he found a way forward: he loved his guards, through the tiny windows of interactions he had with them around them bringing him food, and occasionally letting him out of his cell.

Flood Victims in Sindh- You Have Powe

This had the effect that some of them eventually refused to continue to take part in imprisoning him. So, reclaiming your power can lead to unexpectedly powerful outcomes. But just as important was the “income” Mandela received, not when he learned the effect he had on others, but the immediate effect upon himself, because being able to express his love again nurtured him tremendously.

Floods victim in Punjab- This cot is their home

Are you imprisoned in some way? Are there things that you tell yourself you “have to” do, or should/must/can’t, etc.? Mandela could not see his loved ones because he was physically prevented from doing so. Most of us live in prisons that are mostly our own making – I don’t really have to do paid work I don’t love, it’s just that if I don’t I may eventually have to move out of the co-operative house I live in, and be reduced to begging for food. That “prison” isn’t only of my own making, it also has to do with the rest of the world – the economic and social/political world I live in (which can be cruel in its lack of caring for people’s basic needs), and the natural world (there are some basic physical needs which if I do not satisfy, I will die). Whatever the apparent source of my imprisonment, Mandela’s experience makes it obvious that it is always possible for me to reclaim my power in response to my “prison” and maintain a positive attitude, and that often it is even possible to come up with strategies that will really make a difference.

 

Too Many Affected-Too Less Available-People Jostling for food

The thing that has most helped me to develop and nurture my personal power* is Nonviolent Communication, and more generally (from long before I had heard of that) all of the deeply honest and compassionate conversations I have had with friends, lovers, and family. I’ve also been supported by meditation and mindfulness, journalling, and long walks. My life would be simple if I thought that spreading personal processes was enough for us to make a world that works for all, but the challenges we face are systemic in nature, and call for a systemic response. Personal development is an important part of that, but there is so much more that is called for. In a later post I may explore the larger scales and what we can do about them.